Three Kingdoms: Ten Times Speed, Diao Chan Says I'm Too Fast

"Boji is here?" Li Jue asked Zhang Xiu with surprise.

Zhang Xiu, with a pale face, wearing a set of bright silver armor and holding a long spear, nodded and replied, "General Li, after receiving your letter, my uncle led his troops all the way from Lintao without stopping."

"That's wonderful!" Li Jue clapped his hands excitedly and said, "Where is your uncle now, and how many soldiers did he bring?"

"Reporting to General Li, my uncle is currently stationed outside Shehu Valley with troops."

"Originally, my uncle only had a few hundred soldiers, but after hearing about this in Lintao, the old lady was very worried and immediately began to raise troops."

"A total of three thousand soldiers have been recruited and are now stationed outside Shehu Valley."

“Three thousand!” Li Jue turned to look at Jia Xu.

Jia Xu breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

“Three thousand soldiers are enough,” Jia Xu said confidently. “Captain Zhang is outside Shehu Valley. If we cooperate well this time, we can give the Qiang people a big surprise.”

After saying that, Jia Xu looked at Zhang Ji and said, "Zhang Xiu, I'll have to trouble you to go back and inform your uncle."

Zhang Xiu nodded.

Then Jia Xu stepped forward and whispered something in Zhang Xiu's ear.

Zhang Xiu listened and nodded.

After Jia Xu finished speaking, Zhang Ji cupped his hands in greeting and said, "I will set off now to inform my uncle."

"Okay." Jia Xu nodded and said, "Go ahead, be careful on the way."

After Zhang Xiu left, Li Jue, who was relieved, said, "Now that Zhang Ji has troops stationed at the entrance of Shehu Valley, we don't have to worry about being blocked by the Qiang troops, right?"

Jia Xu held his hands, which were tucked into his sleeves, his eyes gleaming.

Is that all?

Before he even reached Ji County, the Qiang people were already eager to make their move.

If we hadn't noticed it early, and entered Shehu Valley at this time, wouldn't we have been ambushed by the Qiang people?

As the saying goes, "It is impolite not to reciprocate."

If you're calculating the first day of the month, then I'll be calculating the fifteenth.

Let's see if you take my life first, or if I, Jia Xu, take yours first.

“Wenhe, Lintao is even farther than Ji County. We sent people to both Lintao and Ji County at the same time. Why did only people from our hometown of Lintao come, while there was no movement from Ji County?” Li Jue asked, somewhat puzzled.

If you ride a fast horse, it's only half a day's journey to Ji County.

Logically speaking, the cavalrymen they sent out to ask for help should have returned by now, even if they had only made one round trip.

But so far there has been no movement at all.

"Wenhe, do you think there might be something wrong with this...?"

Jia Xu shook his head.

"will not."

"Liang Hu, the governor of Liangzhou, was a coward."

"Back then, the prefect of Wuwei Prefecture, relying on the support of the Ten Attendants in the palace, acted recklessly in the area. Su Zhenghe, an official from Liangzhou, was preparing to impeach him."

"Liang Hu was afraid of being implicated and offending the Ten Attendants, so he wanted to punish and kill Su Zhenghe."

"It was only after the chief secretary Gai Xun persuaded Liang Hu that he did not kill Su Zhenghe."

“This man came from the Hongdu School, and the position of Governor of Liangzhou was not a good place for him.”

"He has no need for it, nor does he have the guts to unite with the Qiang people."

"As long as he doesn't make any mistakes, he will definitely be promoted after this year when he returns to the court."

"It is absolutely impossible for us to unite with the Qiang people."

"As for why he didn't come..."

Jia Xu narrowed his eyes: "I'm afraid it's related to cowardice."

"Hmph." Li Jue snorted coldly: "This kind of cowardly and useless piece of trash would be a complete mess if he were appointed governor of Liangzhou."

Jia Xu shook his head.

The court was in chaos, with officials selling their positions and titles, and many holding office without merit.

He doesn't care about these things now.

What he's worried about now is whether the Qiang people who have always followed them will really take action against them.

"Don't worry about these things for now. The lord will handle them when he arrives."

"What we need to focus on right now is what's happening right now."

After saying that, Jia Xu glanced around and then lowered his voice, saying, "You do this for now..."

.........

In the woods on both sides of the entrance to Shehu Valley.

A soft rustling sound of footsteps echoed through the woods.

Immediately afterwards, several figures dressed in coarse linen clothes and carrying longbows appeared behind the tree, their eyes looking toward a line of people on the official road outside the woods.

The blinding sunlight shone through the gaps in the trees and fell on the group.

"Why don't they leave?"

one of them said.

The others also looked carefully outside.

"It looks like they're unloading things from the wagon; maybe they're going to set up camp?"

"Set up camp?"

"They're already setting up camp at noon?"

"Why worry about so much? We're just responsible for monitoring and reporting this message back."

"You stay here and keep watch, I'll go back and report."

As they spoke, one of them walked toward the distance of the woods.

...........

Several miles north of the entrance to Shehu Valley, in a forest, lies a flat depression.

This place is usually the habitat of wild animals in the forest.

But today, a group of uninvited guests suddenly arrived and drove away all the wild animals.

The depression was densely packed with warhorses, and cavalrymen in traditional uniforms were resting on their horses.

A rough estimate suggests there are over a thousand people.

In the middle of the depression, several people dressed in armor sat.

One of the men, a middle-aged man around thirty years old, wearing a leather armor, was speaking to several older men beside him, who were wearing foreign fur armor.

"Once they enter the middle of Shehu Valley, Old Wang of Dianling, your Dianling troops will launch an attack from the left."

"Chief of the Ginseng Wolves, your Ginseng Wolves tribe is launching an attack from the right flank."

“King Zhong Qiang, your troops should block them inside Shehu Valley from the exit.”

"And I led the Huangzhong Righteous Army to block the exit of Shehu Valley from the rear."

Bei Gong Boyu sat down next to several Qiang elders and drew a simple map on the soil in front of him with a twig.

Old Wang from Dianling is about fifty years old. His full head of white hair shows his age, but his eyes are very bright.

The leader of the Ginseng Wolf tribe appears to be around the same age as Beigong Boyu, around thirty years old, in the prime of his youth.

With pale blue eyes, Bei Gong Boyu had fair skin, raised eyebrows, and gleaming leather armor.

Upon hearing Beigong Boyu's words, the leader of the Qiang tribe frowned and said, "Is it really necessary to go to such trouble? We have been following them for several days already."

"The troops we have assembled are several times their size; we should attack directly."

"Do we really need to wait until they enter Tiger Shooting Valley? Are we sure that our thousands of men can't defeat their thousand men?"

"Don't even mention how many elderly, weak, women, and children are in here. The sooner we resolve this, the better, to avoid any unforeseen complications."

Both Dianling Lao Wang and Zhongqiang Lao Wang looked at Beigong Boyu at the same time.

Bei Gong Boyu shook his head and said, "It's best if we don't let Duan Yu know that it was us who intercepted and killed Duan Yu's family and troops."

"Otherwise, even if Duan Yu is forced to leave by us, if he really wants to retaliate, it will save us from being exposed."

"Only by surrounding and killing all his troops and family members in Tiger Shooting Valley can we avoid exposing our operation."

When Bei Gong Boyu said this, Dian Ling Lao Wang nodded in agreement.

“That’s right,” said Old Wang of Dianling. “That Duan Yu is quite capable. If he really comes to take revenge, even if we are not afraid, it will probably affect the overall situation.”

“If he hadn’t come to Liangzhou, we would have had no grudge against him. But this time, we can’t blame him; he delivered himself to our door.”

"Alright, it's up to you. Whatever you say, we'll do it," said the leader of the Ginseng Wolf Tribe.

Several people were talking.

Suddenly a soldier walked over, saluted the group, and said, "Old Wang, our scouts just said that the troop has set up camp at the entrance of Shehu Valley, it seems they are going to establish an encampment."

Ok?

Upon hearing this, Bei Gong Boyu frowned slightly.

Why not set up camp in broad daylight instead of traveling?

"Could they have discovered something?" the leader of the Ginseng Wolf Tribe said, raising an eyebrow.

Bei Gong Boyu frowned, shook his head, and said, "No."

"If they had really discovered it, they wouldn't have left Wangyuan County."

"It's probably because of the women in the group," Beigong Boyu said. "Two of them are Duan Yu's wives, one of whom is Dong Zhuo's daughter."

"After such a long journey, the women must be tired and need to rest."

"It doesn't matter what happens. Even if they don't enter Tiger Valley, even if they discover our presence, it's too late for them to retreat now."

"As soon as they dare to retreat, we will launch an attack immediately."

"It's just that this exposes a slightly greater risk."

"Let's wait a bit longer and see what happens tomorrow morning," said Bei Gong Boyu.

After hearing this, the others nodded in agreement.

...........

That night.

Within Ji County, at the official residence of the governor.

Liang Hu, sitting upright in the main hall, was writing something with a brush in hand.

What lay before me was a sheet of white paper held down by a paperweight.

The white paper was delicate and smooth, making the black ink marks on it extremely noticeable.

Liang Hu loved calligraphy from a young age and was famous in the Han Dynasty for his eight-part script. He was one of the three masters of calligraphy, along with Cai Yong, known as the Flying White Master, and Zhang Zhi, the son of Zhang Huan, one of the Three Masters of Liangzhou, who was known as the Sage of Cursive Script.

His eight-part calligraphy is unparalleled in the present day. He once served under Hongdu, and even Liu Hong greatly admired Liang Hu's calligraphy.

Liang Hu, dressed in a black casual outfit, was writing with his brush.

Just as Liang Hu was writing, a scantily clad maid walked gracefully to the front of the main hall.

But after glancing at Liang Hu, who was writing calligraphy, he didn't dare to disturb him.

Only after Liang Hu finished his last stroke, and after admiring it with satisfaction, did he look up at the maid, who then bowed in greeting.

"Tell me what's going on."

Liang Hu picked up the white paper on the table with both hands and then gently blew on it to dry the ink stains.

"Chief Secretary Gai Xun requests an audience."

Upon hearing the name Gai Xun, Liang Hu, who was still engrossed in his calligraphy, frowned.

"What's he doing here again?"

After frowning and muttering something to himself, Liang Hu nodded and said, "Let him in."

Upon receiving the order, the maid bowed and retreated.

Before long, Gai Xun, a burly man dressed in a civil official's robe, strode into the main hall.

Upon entering the hall, Gai Xun cupped his hands in greeting to Liang Hu, saying, "Uncle Fang, please forgive me for disturbing you so late at night."

Liang Hu had already put on a smile and waved, saying, "It's Yuan Gu. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. Please have a seat."

"Someone come and serve tea."